Turner Contemporary by David Chipperfield | Dezeen Turner Contemporary by David Chipperfield 12 comments Architect David Chipperfield has released images of the completed seafront Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate composed of six identical volumes with an acid-etched glass skin. The gallery, which Dezeen showed designs for back in October , is intended to withstand the corrosive effects of the seaside environment, including the occasional high wave. The ground floor accommodates a reception area, event space and cafe while the exhibition spaces are on the first floor, benefitting from natural north light. The gallery will have no permanent collection, but will feature temporary exhibitions combining historic and contemporary works, with a focus on the work of artist JMW Turner (1775-1851). Here are some more details from the gallery: Turner Contemporary opens 16 April 2011 Margate’s new Turner Contemporary gallery, one of the largest and most important spaces for art outside London, opens to the public on Saturday 16 April 2011. The gallery will be opened by one of Margate’s most famous residents, Tracey Emin, with the musician Jools Holland and a group of local schoolchildren.

Designed by internationally acclaimed architect, David Chipperfield, winner of 2007 RIBA Stirling Prize and RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, the opening of the new gallery is one of the most anticipated cultural events of 2011. Victoria Pomery, Director, Turner Contemporary said: “I am thrilled to be opening the gallery on 16 April. It will be a momentous day for both Turner Contemporary and Margate and the moment we open the doors and see visitors entering this fantastic new building will be very special.” Taking inspiration from Britain’s best-known painter, JMW Turner who was a regular visitor to Margate throughout his life, the gallery is situated on the sea front on the site of a guesthouse frequented by the artist. To mark this connection there will always be works by Turner on display in the gallery. John Kampfner, Chair, Turner Contemporary said: “The opening of Turner Contemporary marks the start of an extraordinary opportunity for Margate and Thanet to become one of the UK’s most compelling culture and tourism destinations.

I would like to pay tribute to Kent County Council and our other partners for delivering this outstanding building on time and on budget.” Turner Contemporary’s exhibitions programme shows a unique combination of contemporary art alongside historical work, demonstrating a particular focus on the art, thought and the legacy of JMW Turner. The opening show Revealed: Turner Contemporary Opens explores the themes of imagination, discovery, wonder and the creative spirit. Centred on JMW Turner’s extraordinary but little-known painting The Eruption of the Souffrier Mountains, in the Island of St Vincent, at Midnight, on the 30th of April, 1812, from a Sketch Taken at the Time by Hugh P. Keane, Esqre 1815, on loan from Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool, the exhibition will feature new commissions by Daniel Buren, Russell Crotty, Ellen Harvey and Conrad Shawcross, together with selected works by Teresita Fernández and Douglas Gordon.

The opening exhibition will be followed by: Nothing in the World but Youth (17 Sep 2011 - 8 Jan 2012) An exhibition exploring how youth experience has been reflected in art, culture and the media from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Hamish Fulton: Walk (17 Jan - 6 May 2012) Hamish Fulton's first one-person show in the UK since 2002, will include new work made as the result of the group walks in Kent that we commissioned in the lead up to the opening of Turner Contemporary. Turner and the Elements (28 Jan - 13 May 2012) The gallery’s first major exhibition of works by JMW Turner a collaboration with Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg and National Museum, Cracow, exploring the important role that the depiction of the elements played in Turner’s landscapes, watercolours and late paintings. Mike Hill, Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: "I have been involved since the very beginning and I am immensely proud of the hard work of so many people who have worked tirelessly to reach the opening day.

It is a magnificent building which will provide many different opportunities for local people and visitors from far and wide, to come and enjoy what is on offer and help build the local economy of Margate and East Kent." Sally Abbott, Regional Director, South East, Arts Council England, said: “We’re proud to support Turner Contemporary, and we’re looking forward to the year ahead with its programme of high quality international contemporary art. Turner Contemporary will be integral to local life and vital to regeneration, with long lasting benefits for the community. Great art enriches lives, and this gallery will help more people experience and be inspired by the arts.” Pam Alexander, Chief Executive of the South East England Development Agency and Chair of the Margate Renewal Partnership, said: "The opening of Turner Contemporary is a huge step into the future for Margate. As an international venue, it will bring an exciting buzz to the town and create new opportunities for the people of Margate and the local economy. With the recent letting of the former M&S building in the town centre and the plans for Dreamland, it is a landmark in our work to regenerate and revitalise Margate.

The project has been a great example of collaboration and we hope it will demonstrate how the arts and culture can stimulate regeneration, and we are proud our £4m investment has supported the creation of this world class Gallery." Read more Turner Contemporary's boardwalk empire | Art and design | The Guardian Architecture Turner Contemporary's boardwalk empire Margate's brand new gallery stands where JMW Turner painted his epic seascapes. Will it attract artists back to the town? ‘I can’t design a wacky building’ … the Turner Contemporary, Margate Photograph: Richard Bryant/arcaidimages.com Wednesday 6 April 2011 16.30 EDT First published on Wednesday 6 April 2011 16.30 EDT Share on Messenger Close "The sun is God." These are said to be the last words Joseph Mallord William Turner spoke from his London deathbed as the light streamed through his window. Not quite true: what the artist actually said, to his doctor, was "Go downstairs and get yourself a glass of sherry." The more famous phrase was an invention of Turner's friend, John Ruskin , the critic who made the artist a kind of demigod, championing his every brushstroke.

Turner Contemporary , a brand-new public art gallery that opens on the seafront at Margate next week, glories in sunlight. It rises from the site of the lodging house where the artist enjoyed the ample favours of its landlady, Sophia Booth. It was from this north Kent beach, where the North Sea wrestles with the Thames Estuary, that Turner immortalised in oils and watercolours the sunlight and seascapes that would make him Britain's greatest painter. The Turner Contemporary project itself began back in 2001. Under the directorship of Victoria Pomery , the arts organisation has been putting on exhibitions and events in a variety of local buildings; to date, more than 690,000 people have visited Turner Contemporary shows or taken part in workshops and courses in Margate, a town of high unemployment and otherwise limited opportunities for artists. As well as providing a place where art can be seen, the building has been built to give artists a space to work with local people. Its original design, by Norwegian architects Snøhetta and Britain's Stephen Spence , would have been situated right at the end of the town's harbour mouth.

Intended to open in 2007, it would have cost around £55m and been prey to the forces of nature that make for memorable paintings, but are no friend to architecture. "It was a very romantic proposition," says architect David Chipperfield who designed its replacement after a consultation process involving 8,000 locals. "I liked the idea very much, but only on paper. The reality here is a seafront that can be very tough and unforgiving, and any building facing it has to be extremely robust." What Chipperfield has designed is further inland, a bold yet simple gallery that has cost £17.5m. From a distance it appears to be a sequence of industrial-era boat sheds, but close up reveals itself as an interconnected set of giant artists' studios sheathed in walls of thick translucent glass. During the course of a day they capture, reflect and refract the many moods of the sun and sea. The building changes colour, acting as an architectural canvas on which the light that inspired Turner can play.

"It's very fortunate", says Chipperfield, "that the gallery faces due north, as, of course does Margate, which is not often the case of holiday resorts in the northern hemisphere. But this means that we get the light that works best for artists and the artworks." As you walk in, a huge lobby window frames the north Kent horizon like a giant Turner painting (the artist's paintings will be displayed here in the upcoming Turner and the Elements show planned for January 2012, but exhibitions of contemporary artists will be the norm). Walking around the ground floor – a serenely austere interior made of little more than polished concrete and glass – natural light seeps everywhere. It brightens the generous lobby, with its corner cafe overlooking the sandy beach, and animates the big study rooms where adults and school parties alike will learn about contemporary art. Upstairs in the galleries, the light is channelled through high studio windows and from bands of glass set into the high, sloping roofs. "The idea is very simple", says Chipperfield. "The gallery isn't a museum. It doesn't have a permanent collection. It's a place where art is experienced, nurtured and created.

So we've made it as much like a studio as possible. We've also made the gap between the entrance and the galleries as small as we could. I'm not a fan of galleries that can seem like air terminals, where the cafes, shops and everything else appear to take precedence over getting people to the art." Indeed, the atmosphere that permeates Turner Contemporary is one of immediacy and purposefulness. There is indeed a studio-like rawness here that artists will like. This is the first major building that Chipperfield has completed in Britain since the River and Rowing Museum at Henley-on-Thames, which opened in 1998. Since then there has also been the BBC headquarters in Glasgow, which was finished by another architect and opened in 2007 (Chipperfield prefers not to discuss it). He was hugely acclaimed for his Neues museum in Berlin, an inspiring fusion of intelligently renovated and new design that has become a model of how to push historic architecture forward without betraying the past; in 2011, he won the Queen's Royal Gold Medal – which is, along with the Pritzker prize , one of the two most important architectural awards.

It was high time this exacting architect completed another new building in his own country. 'I can't design a wacky building' A lot depends on the gallery's success. As Margate-born Tracey Emin puts it: "The brilliant thing about Turner Contemporary is that is has given [local] people hope that things are going to change here, and also to put Margate back on the map." Much like talk of an Olympic legacy in east London, the big ambition is that the Turner Contemporary will help kickstart urban regeneration. Once a popular seaside resort, in the 60s Margate's economy was fatally wounded by the advent of cheap package holidays to Spain. And yet, though it's rough around the edges, the town boasts a fine seafront and a fascinating mixture of historic buildings, though many are in need of love and care. Can this modestly sized gallery have a similar impact as Frank Gehry's eye-catching Guggenheim museum did in the rundown port of Bilbao? "It's very hard to say,"says Chipperfield. "Architects can only design buildings to do the best job they can, but of course I understand the hopes here.

I can't design a wacky, clown-like building – that's not my style – but I do think the Turner will become a true public place where people can meet, be inspired, inspire one another and feel somehow uplifted." The result is a quiet triumph for all of those involved, sure to encourage a new generation of artists. "I would like the building to be closer to the sea than it is," says Chipperfield, "but that would have meant rerouting the path of the Margate lifeboat. I would also like to have had more money to spend on the glass facade to give it that bit more subtlety, but, then, we've also been able to do a lot on a modest budget. I hope to prove – although time will tell – that you don't have to design a building that looks like a big toy to make a success of a new public art gallery." Shortly before I left Turner Contemporary, the sun set to spectacular effect, warming Chipperfield's concrete floors and walls, even though the wind howled mercilessly and darkening clouds threatened rain. Turner would have loved it. • Turner Contemporary opens to the public on 16 April.

Members of Guardian Extra can win two pairs of tickets to attend the gallery preview event the evening of 15 April. The prize includes one night's hotel accommodation. Details: theguardian.com/extra/turnercomp Correction 7 April: This piece may have mistakenly given the impression that David Chipperfield won the Pritzker prize. This has been corrected. Topics Once a thriving seaside resort, Margate has recently become a 'dumping ground' for vulnerable people. But the opening of the Turner Contemporary Gallery could revive the town's fortunes Published: 13 Apr 2011 Turner Contemporary, designed by architect David Chipperfield, is a new cultural centre on Margate's seafront inspired by JMW Turner's legacy in the town.

Jonathan Glancey talks to the architect about the imposing structure ahead of its opening Published: 6 Apr 2011 Charlotte Higgins: The new Margate venue is the first of a trio of galleries set to give hard-hit regional towns a facelift this year Published: 8 Apr 2011 The new Turner Contemporary has put Margate back on the visitors' map, but the Kent seaside town boasts enough other galleries and art events to offer a culture-packed day out Published: 13 Apr 2011 Turner Gallery Margate, Kent, Turner Gallery, David Chipperfield Kent, Turner Contemporary Gallery - e-architect Home > England > Turner Gallery Margate, Kent, Turner Gallery, David Chipperfield Kent, Turner Contemporary Gallery Turner Gallery Margate, Kent, Turner Gallery, David Chipperfield Kent, Turner Contemporary Gallery Published by Isabelle Lomholt updated on March 6, 2014 Turner Contemporary Gallery, Margate, Building, Architect, Image, Design, News Turner Gallery Margate, Kent, England : Contemporary Art Modern English Building – design by David Chipperfield Architects, UK 22 Jun 2012 Turner Contemporary Gallery Margate – Award Design: David Chipper

field Architects Turner Contemporary Gallery Margate – RIBA Awards winner, 2012 28 Apr 2011 – new images added by Richard Bryant Turner Contemporary Margate’s new Turner Contemporary gallery, one of the largest and most important spaces for art outside London, opened to the public on Saturday 16 Apr 2011.

The gallery will be opened by one of Margate’s most famous residents, Tracey Emin, with the musician Jools Holland and a group of local schoolchildren. Designed by internationally acclaimed architect, David Chipperfield, winner of 2007 RIBA Stirling Prize and RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, the opening of the new gallery is one of the most anticipated cultural events of 2011. photo : Riddle-Stagg.com Victoria Pomery, Director, Turner Contemporary said: “I am thrilled to be opening the gallery on 16 April. It will be a momentous day for both Turner Contemporary and Margate and the moment we open the doors and see visitors entering this fantastic new building will be very special.” Taking inspiration from Britain’s best-known painter, JMW Turner who was a regular visitor to Margate throughout his life, the gallery is situated on the sea front on the site of a guesthouse frequented by the artist. To mark this connection there will always be works by Turner on display in the gallery.

John Kampfner, Chair, Turner Contemporary said: “The opening of Turner Contemporary marks the start of an extraordinary opportunity for Margate and Thanet to become one of the UK’s most compelling culture and tourism destinations. I would like to pay tribute to Kent County Council and our other partners for delivering this outstanding building on time and on budget.” Turner Contemporary’s exhibitions programme shows a unique combination of contemporary art alongside historical work, demonstrating a particular focus on the art, thought and the legacy of JMW Turner. pictures : Richard Bryant/Arcaidimages.com The opening show Revealed: Turner Contemporary Opens explores the themes of imagination, discovery, wonder and the creative spirit. Centred on JMW Turner’s extraordinary but little-known painting The Eruption of the Souffrier Mountains, in the Island of St Vincent, at Midnight, on the 30th of April, 1812, from a Sketch Taken at the Time by Hugh P. Keane, Esqre 1815, on loan from Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool, the exhibition will feature new commissions by Daniel Buren, Russell Crotty, Ellen Harvey and Conrad Shawcross, together with selected works by Teresita Fernández and Douglas Gordon.

The opening exhibition will be followed by: • Nothing in the World but Youth (17 Sep 2011 – 8 Jan 2012) An exhibition exploring how youth experience has been reflected in art, culture and the media from the late nineteenth century to the present day. • Hamish Fulton: Walk (17 Jan – 6 May 2012) Hamish Fulton’s first one-person show in the UK since 2002, will include new work made as the result of the group walks in Kent that we commissioned in the lead up to the opening of Turner Contemporary. • Turner and the Elements (28 Jan – 13 May 2012) The gallery’s first major exhibition of works by JMW Turner a collaboration with Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg and National Museum, Cracow, exploring the important role that the depiction of the elements played in Turner’s landscapes, watercolours and late paintings. Mike Hill, Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: "I have been involved since the very beginning and I am immensely proud of the hard work of so many people who have worked tirelessly to reach the opening day.

It is a magnificent building which will provide many different opportunities for local people and visitors from far and wide, to come and enjoy what is on offer and help build the local economy of Margate and East Kent." Sally Abbott, Regional Director, South East, Arts Council England, said: “We’re proud to support Turner Contemporary, and we’re looking forward to the year ahead with its programme of high quality international contemporary art. Turner Contemporary will be integral to local life and vital to regeneration, with long lasting benefits for the community. Great art enriches lives, and this gallery will help more people experience and be inspired by the arts.” Pam Alexander, Chief Executive of the South East England Development Agency and Chair of the Margate Renewal Partnership, said: "The opening of Turner Contemporary is a huge step into the future for Margate. As an international venue, it will bring an exciting buzz to the town and create new opportunities for the people of Margate and the local economy. With the recent letting of the former M&S building in the town centre and the plans for Dreamland, it is a landmark in our work to regenerate and revitalise Margate.

The project has been a great example of collaboration and we hope it will demonstrate how the arts and culture can stimulate regeneration, and we are proud our £4m investment has supported the creation of this world class Gallery." 15 Apr 2011 Turner Contemporary Gallery, Margate, Kent, UK 2011 David Chipperfield Architects The £17.5m seafront gallery, which celebrates the painter JMW Turner’s links with the town, opens to the public on Saturday 16 Apr. Speaking at a press preview, Artist Tracey Emin, who grew up in Margate, said she was "thrilled" at the prospect of improving the area. The Turner Contemporary Gallery is to be opened by Tracey Emin, Jools Holland and local schoolchildren. Dec 2010 – Progress Update Design: David Chipperfield Architects pictures © David Chipperfield Architects Margate’s new Turner Contemporary gallery, one of the largest and most important spaces for art outside London, will open to the public on Saturday 16 April 2011.

Designed by internationally acclaimed architect, David Chipperfield, winner of 2007 RIBA Stirling Prize and RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, the opening of the new landmark building will be one of the key cultural events in 2011. “I am thrilled that we are able to announce our opening date and look forward to welcoming thousands of visitors to the gallery – the 16 April will be a great moment of celebration for Turner Contemporary and Margate.” – Victoria Pomery, Director, Turner Contemporary Taking inspiration from Britain’s best-known painter, JMW Turner who was a regular visitor to Margate throughout his life, the gallery is situated on the sea front on the site of a guesthouse frequented by the artist. To mark this connection there will always be works by Turner on display in the gallery for visitors to enjoy. “The opening of Turner Contemporary marks the start of an extraordinary opportunity for Margate and Thanet to become one of the UK’s most compelling culture and tourism destinations. I would like to pay tribute to Kent County Council and our other partners for delivering this outstanding building on time and on budget.” – John Kampfner, Chair, Turner Contemporary.

Turner Contemporary’s exhibitions programme will show a unique combination of contemporary art alongside historical work, demonstrating a particular focus on the art, thought and the legacy of JMW Turner. The opening show Revealed: Turner Contemporary Opens explores the themes of imagination, discovery, wonder and the creative spirit. Centred on JMW Turner’s extraordinary but little-known painting The Eruption of the Souffrier Mountains, in the Island of St Vincent, at Midnight, on the 30th of April, 1812, from a Sketch Taken at the Time by Hugh P. Keane, Esqre 1815, on loan from Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool, the exhibition will feature the work of six major international artists Daniel Buren, Russell Crotty, Teresita Fernandez, Douglas Gordon, Ellen Harvey and Conrad Shawcross, including three important new commissions. Gallery Architecture and Design Located directly on the sea front the design seeks to take maximum advantage of the dramatic setting and its extraordinary views, making strong connections both to the sea and the town. Positioned on a plinth to protect against flooding, the building comprises six rectangular interlocking forms and retains a strong sculptural presence on the site.

The roofline, which will form the silhouette of the building, has been designed to enable northern light to be brought into all the gallery spaces at the first floor level. The choice of white opaque glass as the cladding material has been influenced by the nature of the building, its location and light. Visitors will experience a certain element of surprise and drama when moving through the building. There will be some panoramic views out to sea as well as the opportunity to view the town and the bay from the cafe and entrance area. On the ground floor a double height space in the gallery will provide a spectacular space in which to showcase works, and there will be a large, multi-function space with an external terrace. The first floor will house environmentally controlled gallery spaces as well as the Learning studio. This floor will also feature a balcony that cantilevers out over the ground floor gallery and boasts spectacular views out to sea. Back-of-house space, including offices, storage and workshops, have been placed on both floors. Turner Contemporary – News Update Turner Contemporary gallery tops out image © David Chipperfield Architects The Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, Kent, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, has topped out – a year after building work began.

Kent County Council, which is leading the project, will open the gallery in Spring 2011. The gallery will celebrate the town’s association with the English painter JMW Turner. Located directly on the seafront, the gallery will present both historic and contemporary exhibitions as well as a program of educational and cultural events. The two-storey building has a strong sculptural presence on the site. Raised on a plinth to protect against flooding, it is formed by six identical volumes with mono-pitched roofs that provide north light into all the upper level galleries. The roofline forms the silhouette of the building, reminiscent of a coastal vernacular. The building will be clad in white opaque glass. Start on site, Nov 2008 Set to complete 2011 Previous designs by Snøhetta with Spence Architects image: Richard Davies, from David Chipperfield Architects 210208 21 Feb 2008 Turner Contemporary – Margate Gallery Approval David Chipperfield Architects’ Turner Contemporary gallery granted planning permission On 20 February 2008, Thanet District Council resolved to grant planning permission for the new Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, Kent, designed by David Chipperfield Architects.

The new gallery will celebrate Margate’s association with the English painter JMW Turner. Located directly on the seafront, on a site once occupied by a guesthouse frequented by Turner, the gallery will present both historic and contemporary exhibitions as well as a program of educational and cultural events. The design seeks to take maximum advantage of the dramatic setting and its extraordinary views, making strong connections both to the sea and the town. Located between land and sea, the two-storey gallery will have a strong and very visible sculptural presence on the site. Raised on a plinth to protect against flooding, the building will be formed by six identical volumes with mono-pitched roofs that provide northlight into all the upper level galleries. The roofline will form the silhouette of the building, reminiscent of a coastal vernacular. The decision to use white glass as the cladding material was driven by its ability to catch the changing light conditions and withstand the rough seaside weather. Kent County Council, which is leading the project, will now seek to appoint a contractor and work is expected to start on site in Autumn 2008, ahead of an opening date of 2010.

Turner Contemporary Gallery Design David Chipperfield presented the latest designs for the new gallery for Turner Contemporary at The Theatre Royal, Margate, 16 Oct 2007. Turner Contemporary Gallery image © David Chipperfield Architects Since the designs were last shown in June, David Chipperfield Architects has been working closely with Kent County Council and the wider client team, as well as taking on comments that were raised by members of the public. The blueprint for the building has evolved considerably and now comprises six rectangular interlocking forms. Positioned on a plinth and on two floors rather than three, the Turner Contemporary Gallery building retains a strong sculptural presence on the site. The roofline has been changed to reflect more closely other architecture in Margate and enables northern light to be brought into all the gallery spaces at the first floor level. In addition the choice of white opaque glass as the cladding material has been influenced by the nature of the building, site and light. Visitors will experience an element of surprise and drama when moving through the building. There will be some panoramic views out to sea as well as the opportunity to view the town and the bay from the café on the ground floor.

A spectacular double height space in the gallery on the ground floor will serve to showcase new commissions. A large, multi-function space on the ground floor, with an external terrace, will allow a wide range of events and activities to take place as part of the gallery’s programme. The first floor will house all the gallery spaces including the young people’s gallery and a studio space for use by groups including schools. This floor will also feature a balcony that cantilevers out over the ground floor gallery and allows spectacular views out to sea. Back of house space including offices, storage and workshop have been placed on both floors. These areas will not be accessible to members of the public but are critical for the smooth operation of the gallery. Speaking about the latest Turner Contemporary Gallery design, David Chipperfield said: "We have developed the design following the public meeting in June to take maximum advantage of such a dramatic setting with its extraordinary views.

Our building will look out to the sea, connect itself to the town and capture the same unique light that inspired Turner." Turner Contemporary Gallery, Margate images / information from David Chipperfield Architects David Chipperfield Architects: Turner Contemporary, Margate | Architecture Today David Chipperfield Architects: Turner Contemporary, Margate 25/05/11 Photo: Richard Byant Charles Holland takes a trip to the seaside to see the Turner Contemporary, a building of ‘architectural quality and civic dignity’. Novelty is architecture’s false friend. I would like to make an appeal for the familiar. David Chipperfield, Royal Gold Medal lecture, 2011. You can keep the Costa Brava, I’m telling you mate, I’d rather have a day down Margate with all me family. Chas’n’Dave, Down to Margate, 1982. Far from appearing familiar, David Chipperfield’s new Turner Contemporary gallery looks startlingly alien in the context of Margate’s run-down seafront. You can see it the moment you exit the train station, or as you clear the crest of the hill on the main road into town.

As you drop down towards the beach, past Arlington House, Margate’s unloved single unloved tower block, and the defunct Dreamland rollercoaster, past the fading thrills of amusement arcades and an ever-increasing number of boarded-up shop-fronts, the new gallery sits gleaming and milk-white on the horizon. It could be a fortress sat inscrutably on the harbour wall, which is perhaps appropriate for this stretch of coastline with its maritime forts and Tudor castles. As you get closer the building’s bulk starts to diminish, however, and it reveals itself as a smaller and more delicate object than at first sight. You could argue too that it is far less alien than its doomed predecessor, the infamous ‘pebble’ by Norwegian architect Snøhetta that was intended to sit in the water and whose exorbitantly rising costs led to its cancellation and a protracted court case. Photo: Richard Bryant As Chipperfield tactfully puts it, his team inherited the anxieties resulting from this previous project. His replacement design sits a respectful distance from the North Sea’s crashing waves and is raised up on a concrete plinth to avoid flooding. It is also a very simple and straightforward building by comparison.

It takes the form of a family of large sheds nestled together, their monopitch roofs angled to catch Margate’s famous north light, extolled by JMW Turner in his claim that ‘the skies over Thanet are the loveliest in Europe’. Turner’s fondness for Margate and for painting the Thanet skies is ostensibly the reason behind the new gallery. It sits literally on the site of the guesthouse in which Turner stayed when he came here to paint in the early nineteenth century. Photo: Peter Cook Contemporary Margate is a town with serious economic difficulties, and unemployment rates are far higher than the national average. The new gallery, clearly intended to help revive its fortunes, is the flagship of a new ‘cultural quarter’. Like many towns, particularly down-at-heel seaside ones, Margate has pinned a lot of hope on culture as a tool of regeneration. Soon, the Turner Contemporary will have to compete with the new Jerwood Gallery in Hastings as well as Folkestone’s Art Triennial.

Photo: Peter Cook Following both the influential theories of American academic Richard Florida and the exhaustively cited example of Bilbao’s Guggenheim, national and local governments have sought to deploy members of the ‘creative classes’ as the foot soldiers of urban regeneration. Art and artists confer a creative edge to previously run-down areas, rendering them attractive to developers and the moneyed middle classes, or so the theory goes. In this context, art galleries are the perfect weapon, social attractors for the kinds of people who might help lift the fortunes of a town like Margate. At the opening, gallery director Victoria Pomery spoke about Turner Contemporary’s civic role as a social space and an extension of the town. The gallery has had a presence here since 2001 through the temporary occupation of vacant shop spaces and the conversion of Droit House, the former customs building that stands on the stone pier in front of the gallery. Extensive consultation took place over the new design and the wide-ranging cultural programme is clearly intended to locate the gallery in the town’s day-to-day life. David Chipperfield too speaks of the building’s informality and how its relaxed and open spaces are intended to encourage people to feel at home.

Despite these noble intentions, it’s hard to escape the fact that the cool, elegant sophistication of the building is decidedly unlike the rest of Margate. Photo: Peter Cook The building’s physical relationship to the town is particularly revealing in this respect. It sits hard up against a steeply rising road, turns its back and faces resolutely out to sea, albeit across a large, slightly bleak paved area that allows access to the lifeboat station tucked behind the gallery. The building is entered from the lowest point of the site where the seafront bends around to form the start of the harbour wall. A set of steps rises to a wide entrance court, bordered by refined but slightly forbidding concrete retaining walls. Photo: Peter Cook The gallery entrance is placed diagonally across this court at the intersection between two of the monopitch ‘sheds’ and leads into an expansive reception space. Off to one side is a cafe, facing south back into the court, while the reception area flows into a double-height space dominated by a vast window overlooking the sea. An elegant but low-key stair takes you up to a mezzanine level overlooking the window, which in turns leads to the main gallery spaces located at first-floor level.

Photo: Peter Cook The galleries are simple spaces with white painted plasterboard walls and poured concrete floors. Clerestorey windows set into the north-facing walls bring natural light into the interior. South light filters though diffused rooflights set into the steeply angled ceilings. It’s a deceptively straightforward arrangement that makes very effective use of the building’s northern aspect. Photo: Peter Cook Photo: Peter Cook Chipperfield describes the Turner Contemporary as a simple, almost industrial building and the materials used as typical of an artist’s studio. This creates an interesting paradox for a building charged with regenerating a town through the presence of high culture. In order to be welcoming, the gallery needs to be informal and approachable. But it also needs to create suitably impressive spaces that show contemporary art to its best effect. The vast proportions and supposedly neutral materials of the typical ‘white cube’ gallery space are vital in creating what the critic Walter Benjamin called the ‘aura’ of the artwork. Following Duchamp, artists have increasingly made work that depends for its authority on the context in which it is displayed. As art has become less and less conventional, free to be literally anything, the galleries in which it is displayed have become more sober.

Architecture provides the authority that allows artists to play. Turner Contemporary achieves this feat superbly well but by doing so asserts a sense of difference to the rest of the town. Its studied asymmetry and artfully casual massing are fooling nobody. This is unmistakably a temple to high culture, an institution that speaks the rareified language of international art. If it is about the familiar, then it is a highly aestheticised and urbane version of it. But as you walk around the town viewing the gallery from different angles, its forms become richer and more relevant. From the top of the road rising behind it, the angled galleries appear like a group of sailing boats. And appropriately enough the glass cladding catches the Margate light in subtle and unexpected ways. It may be a shed but it is a very beautiful one. Whether or not it encourages more people to have a ‘day down Margate’, Chipperfield has kept up his end of the bargain very well. As he rightly noted at the launch of the building – with just the merest hint of The Fountainhead’s Howard Roark – architecture can’t solve the problems of a place like Margate.

That is a much larger socio-economic issue with which, perhaps unfairly, the gallery has been burdened. Turner Contemporary may also be among the last in a line of flagship cultural buildings associated with New Labour’s regeneration strategies. The theory behind such projects may have been flawed and the process of gentrification that they relied on deeply problematic, but they may also come to be seen as preferable to what follows. It’s difficult to imagine the relaxed planning laws and low-tax incentives of the coalition’s proposed Enterprise Zones producing anything with the architectural quality and civic dignity of Turner Contemporary.

Project team Architect: David Chipperfield Architects; design team: David Chipperfield, Franz Borho, Holger Mattes, Caroline Rogerson, Jennifer Bonner, Yael Brosilovski, Katrin Brünjes, Daniel Buckley, Corina Eberling, Demian Erbar, Jonathan French, Jochen Glemser, Matthias Heberle, Tom Herre, Nick Hill, Silke Hoss, Victoria Jessen-Pike, Akira Kindo, Andrew Phillips, Billy Prendergast, Manuel Shvartzberg, Oliver Ulmer, Steffi Wedde, Reiko Yamazaki; landscape architect: Gross Max; structural engineer: Adams Kara Taylor; services engineer, facade, acoustic, fire, lighting and access consultant: Arup; qs: Gardiner & Theobold; contractor R Durtnell & Sons; client: Kent County Council/Turner Contemporary.

AT217 April 2011 p34 Turner Contemporary: 'A pure art space' – video | Art and design | The Guardian Culture shorts Turner Contemporary: 'A pure art space' – video Turner Contemporary, designed by architect David Chipperfield , is a new cultural centre on Margate's seafront inspired by JMW Turner 's legacy in the town. Jonathan Glancey talks to the architect about the imposing glass structure ahead of its opening

Question: Who is the architect of the new Turner Margate Gallery?
Answer: DAVID CHIPPERFIELD